26 July 2012

News and Blog Mashup

Hi guys and gals! I thought I'd post a little update on things going on in my life and around the world.

First and foremost...
I booked myself a flight to my first ever blog conference! I'm pretty nervous about it, to be honest. But, mostly... I'm SO excited! I'm attending the Bloggy Boot Camp conference in Chicago, IL the first weekend in November. This particular tour stop is focused on the business of blogging. The conference promises small group networking sessions with brands and a full day of education from top notch bloggers in the industry and PR brand professionals. Their promise is that you'll leave the conference with the ideas and contacts you'll need to successfully pitch and execute a social media campaign. The thought of learning ways to make money through blogging THRILLS me. Obviously, I have a lot of work to do when it comes to blogging (most importantly, finding the time to do it) but I am excited about learning new things. My ultimate goal is to eventually "sell myself and my abilities" to marketing and media companies in my area and secure a job in the field! +++ A major plus for this scheduled trip is seeing my long, lost friend Emily, who moved back to Decatur, IL a few years ago. She's promised to come visit me while I'm in Chicago! I cannot wait!Speaking of jobs...
I had a phone interview yesterday. It was for an Internet Marketing position, and I have no idea how well (or how poorly) I did. I base a lot of my thoughts about how I well I do during an interview on body language. I obviously didn't have that to go on with a phone interview. I also felt paranoid because I could tell I was on speaker, and I had no idea if there were 20 people in the room listening to my answers! EEK! Keep your fingers crossed for me.In TV news...

I'm actually glad The Bachelorette is over. It bored me this season. I think Emily picked the right guy, though... and they are really cute together! I didn't watch the finale because there were too many other shows on at the same time that I'd rather watch. Sunday nights are pretty booked when it comes to TV. There's Big Brother, True Blood, Breaking Bad, and The Newsroom on my agenda. The Bachelorette never stood a chance. I'm SO glad Big Brother is back and True Blood is killing it this season! I can't get enough of either of them!

Regarding the shooting in Aurora...
I don't know why... but that little punk traumatized me. I don't typically let incidents like that effect me this much, but the shooting in Aurora has resonated with me. I find myself paranoid when I go outside that someone will start shooting at me. It could be bothering me (more so than others) because it's so different from others before it. It's the only situation I'm aware of that didn't involve the shooter killing himself or wasn't killed by police trying to escape. It's almost as if being apprehended was part of his plan. It's mind boggling. It really aggravates me that the judge issued a gag order too. I completely understand the reasoning behind it... I understand that the details of the shooting shouldn't be released to ensure a fair trial and to keep potential jurors from being biased... and yada yada yada. But I also believe the SOB doesn't really deserve a fair trial. It wasn't fair for those innocent victims to be shot and killed simply because they decided to go to a midnight showing of a movie.Everything about it just sickens me. I 100% believe he is putting on this deranged act of his. He isn't crazy or suffering from a psychotic break. If he was trulymentally ill, his thought processes would be all over the place. He wouldn't have the mental capacity to plan an attack for as long as he did. He wouldn't have the foresight to purchase a bulletproof vest, gas mask, ballistic helmet, and tactical gear. His mind would not have been capable of rigging explosives in his apartment. I'm not saying that he wouldn't have the intelligence to do these things. I'm saying his mind would be a million different places or he would likely be too fixated on one specific thing to methodically plan the attack.There's way too many questions for me right now. What was his motive? Why didn't he try to get away? Why did he spend all that time rigging his apartment with booby traps just to tell the police that he did it? Why did he send a notebook of drawings and plans to his psychiatrist? Why did he tell the police he sent the package? It just doesn't make sense to me. I, personally, believe it's another part of his plan. He wants us to question his sanity. And he wants to get people talking about him.End rant.